Ugo Fredette killed Veronique Barbe because he couldn’t accept that they were separated, the Crown prosecutor argued during closing arguments of Fredette’s murder trial on Friday.
“He couldn’t end the relationship,” Steve Baribeau told the jury in the St. Jerome courthouse.
Fredette is accused of killing Barbe and 71-year-old Yvon Lacasse. According to the prosecution’s theory Fredette fled the scene of Barbe’s murder in his employer’s truck. He then killed Lacasse to steal his car to continue fleeing more discretely, argued Baribeau.
Baribeau also attacked the defence’s version of the killings.
“Do you believe Ugo Fredette when he said he doesn’t remember anything after Veronique Barbe grabbed a knife?” he asked. “Do you give credibility to that?”
Fredette had testified that on Sept. 14, 2017 Barbe had pushed him down a flight of stairs during a fight and grabbed a knife. Fredette said he blocked her but doesn’t remember anything after except seeing Barbe on the kitchen floor in a pool of blood.
“It will be up to you to decide whether you trust what Ugo Fredette told you, that he didn’t intend to kill her,” Baribeau told the jury.
Barbe was stabbed 17 times, he said repeatedly.
“If she grabbed a knife, can you not infer that it was because she feared for her safety because she was a victim of criminal harassment?” Baribeau said.
The trial began in late September and the defence declared its case closed on Monday morning. Defence attorney Louis-Alexandre Martin made his closing argument on Thursday. He asked the jury to find his client guilty of manslaughter instead of murder, saying Fredette hadn’t intended to kill anyone.
Premeditated murder carries an automatic sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years.
